History

The Hanscomb name dates as far back as the 1700s

Hanscomb is able to trace its roots as far back as the 1700s and has on record an estimate prepared in 1790 by master builders/architects John Hanscomb and Richard Fothergill. John Hanscomb was the great, great, great…grandfather of Geoffrey Hancomb, our founder. Click here for more on our founder.

The estimate shown below is for renovation work to the Fetcham Park House, a Queen Anne mansion nestled in the Surrey countryside of England. It was designed by English architect William Talman and built in 1705. The property changed owners many times and went through several additions, renovations and conversions over the past four centuries. At the time John Hanscomb was engaged, the Fetcham Park House was owned by banker Thomas Hankey who added two curved wings at the north and south ends. Today the house still stands and has been restored to its original splendor functioning as prestigious office and event space. Click the photo below for a closer look.

Serving the construction industry since 1957

Do you remember what the 1950s were like? We do. We’ve been serving the construction industry since 1957. Sure, most of our cost planning professionals were born well after Hanscomb first planted roots in Toronto, Canada. But we all have the same passion for serving our clients and providing the type of services that help improve the bottom line for the construction industry.

That’s how it is today. That’s how it was at the beginning. But the 1950s were a very different time for the construction industry. And Canada was a very different place.

Toronto was just putting the finishing touches on its first subway line that stretched from Union Station to Eglinton. Montreal didn’t yet have an underground metro system. And all across the country, the concept of building up along transit routes was a bit of a foreign concept.

With that, the construction industry was very different, too. The tower crane was only just appearing in city skylines. And the entire industry was dominated by architects and a well-managed sub-contracted construction side.

The industry needed Hanscomb

The industry was a well-oiled machine, primed perfectly for what it needed to do. But Geoffrey Hanscomb had the foresight to see that the industry could benefit from quantity surveying. The construction industry was about to change. The industry needed Hanscomb. They just didn’t know it yet.

It was a tough sell, to be honest. Quantity surveying was very different in 1957 when Geoffrey arrived in Canada from London. Computers didn’t exist. Project management was pretty much Greek to everyone. And important cost-planning strategies like lifecycle costing that we all take for granted today hadn’t yet been established as best practices.

But that didn’t stop Hanscomb. Geoffrey and partner Peter Gardner set up shop in Toronto at 1999 Bay Street, providing simple estimating services for a handful of clients.

The 1960s and 1970s saw a massive construction boom, thanks in large part to the Carleton University Development Program and Expo ’67. Hanscomb responded to the ever-growing construction industry with the type of services that made construction more competitive and cost-effective, including a proprietary and sophisticated cost planning system for controlling construction costs, plus project management and value engineering expertise.

Today, we proudly serve the construction industry and project stakeholders through our seven offices across Canada with the same commitment to helping clients save money and improve every phase of their project.

Looking forward to the next 60 years

We look forward to the next 60 years, responding to an ever-changing construction industry and leveraging our expertise to keep costs in line.

Latest News

Statistics Canada's Fourth Quarter Non-residential Construction Price Indices are now available. The First Quarter Indices for 2017 will be released mid-May. Click here to download a copy of Hanscomb's Escalation Watch.